Like a familiar returning refrain

Stretched the empty Devon lane

Taking me on - yet taking me back

To folk and times I won't see again.

 

Faces long gone and Christmases past

Haunting me by not holding fast

Both whispering down that empty track

"Nothing in your life will last".

 

The tide below the coast blew spume

Above the shingle's ceaseless boom

In Mother Nature's tireless attack

While buffeted seabirds fought for room.

 

The wailing wind in mournful dirge

Matched each incoming tidal surge

Amplifying all life seemed to lack

That hope alone would ever purge.

 

Lane, coast and sea lay all around

A symphony of sight and sound

As my mind took on a different tack

Seeking the solace to be found.

 

High above the grey clouds parted

By the smiling sun outsmarted

Its sudden gleam was like a smack

No longer did I feel sadhearted

 

Be happy, it said, for what is now

Be grateful for what you knew - and how

Live for the present - no turning back

And make that your eternal vow!

 

That empty Devon lane I knew

Became a way to see life through

My surroundings had revealed a crack

And looking I was shown how new hope grew.

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